CRAFT is celebrating love, glitter, and craftiness with the Crafty Chica Love Shrine Challenge. Preserve your memories and tell your love story by building a shrine that creatively reflects your personality and expresses your hopes and dreams.
I’ve been going crazy making these shrines! They are such great ways for me to use my ephemera and this project in particular includes some great memories. I heart NY, and my Travel Love Shrine is a like a three dimensional scrapbook of my time in the city.How-To: Make a Love ShrineHow-To: Make a Wedding Love ShrineHow-To: Make a Woodland Love Shrine
For even more inspiration, check out the amazing entries in the Crafty Chica Challenge flickr pool. Once you make your own, please add it in, with a short description of your process. There are some great prizes, but if you make a shrine, you’ve automatically got the best prize there is!

Materials

Directions

Step 1: Gather your materials and choose a box that will accommodate them. Find a container that is sturdy, and that has a bit of depth to it. I used a sweet Onitsuka Tiger shoe box that I’ve been saving for something special.Step 2: Add collage elements to the box. I started with a shiny plastic mailer that reminds me of a chain link fence and a disco ball at the same time. I covered the lid of the box with a subway map. Then I added a postcard of the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge image became the centerpiece of my shrine. But instead of gluing it in right away, I decided to incorporate it in step 3.Step 3: Create dimension with embellishments. I wanted to replicate the suspension aspect of the bridge with some picture hanging wire. I punched a hole in the postcard, and threaded wire through the top. Then I wrapped the end around two large bolts from my junk drawer. It was at this point that I glued the postcard in, and set the bolts in the front of the box. I love this effect.Step 4: Make your paper elements pop. I love the way the words New York look in this postcard, and wanted them to literally jump out. I cut two pieces of sturdy but lightweight cardstock. To use them for dimension, I folded the edges, glued the words to one end, and then used the other to attach them to the box.Step 5: The words New York were not the only interesting part of the postcard. So I added the bridge to the corner of the box, then created my own skyscape with a cut out Empire State Building, a light bulb, and a film canister.Step 6:To complete the piece, I found a chain and hung my metro card and a hotel key that accidentally ended up in my pocket. They dangle from a hole that was already punched in the box. I filled in the blanks of my box with personal notes from my trip, and a ticket from my trip to the New Mueseum. Adding photos to the blank spots in the background is usually something I do first, but this time I was working backward, I guess. I then attached more chain and colorful beads to the lid for a final touch.